Spanish Championships, Valencia 2011

The Spanish championship for scale RC helicopters was held in glorious weather over the weekend of June 4/5 at Valencia, Spain. With 28 registered entrants for the senior competition and 19 for the children's event, there was much to see and enjoy for all the family.

The senior event was split into two classes - super scale for models over 1.5 metres in length and scale for all other helicopters. The attention to detail on many of the machines along with some excellent flying against the beautiful mountain backdrop of Valencia made this a world-class event. The winner of the senior event was Bartolome Costa with his magnificent Bell Huey replica of the San Francisco fire department (see below). This was a worthy winner with great interior features, which was flown in a most realistic manner.

I had been invited along as a guest and honourary judge to demonstrate my Red Bull BO-105 helicopter that is an accurate replica of the machine based in California. Like the full size version it has been built to be fully aerobatic and even includes a scale version of Chuck, the US pilot.

For this year I had added a radio-control tractor and trailer unit, also modelled on the US version, that pulls the helicopter to the flight line. Once parked I am able to start the turbine remotely, take off, fly my schedule and then land back on the trailer unit. The trailer has sequenced flashing landing lights for added effect and once safely on, the helicopter is then towed back to the pits.

Marching out to the flight line ...

Take off ...

... fly away ...

... and now for the tricky bit - coming in to land. Mind the driver's head!

Phew - made it! The trailer looks a lot smaller coming in to land.

The crowd seemed to like both the model and the demonstration as to my surprise at the prize giving ceremony, it was awarded the 'best in show' and 'best flight' trophies. This was unexpected as I was not part of the championships and had only gone along to support the event. Valencia is a long way to travel from the UK, a journey of over 1100 miles that took 19 hours, but the event was definitely worthwhile. I would highly recommend it so look out for dates of the 2012 competition.

The Spanish champion winning model by Bartolome Costa.

A big thank you to the organiser Felipe Arenas and his team for such an enjoyable event and for making us feel so very welcome. Also a big thank you to the other pilots who took such a friendly interest in my models, and to Luis (www.luismontolio.com) for taking such brilliant photos. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2012.